CNN -- Sebastian Junger found him crouched on a battlefield in Afghanistan , fighting to stay alive .

Ahmad Shah Massoud , center in white shirt , leads his men in his beloved Afghan mountains .

The Taliban had the man cornered and outnumbered . A sniper 's bullet came so close to the man that it plucked dirt between his feet . But Junger watched him coolly orchestrate a cunning counterattack by his soldiers -- all while discussing his favorite poetry and international news .

`` He had tremendous magnetism , '' says Junger , a noted journalist and author who has written bestsellers like `` The Perfect Storm , '' and `` A Death in Belmont . ''

`` You did n't even need to speak his language to fall under his sway . That 's the only time I 've ever really felt that from another person . ''

The man Junger met was Ahmad Shah Massoud , the `` Lion of Panjshir . '' Today , Massoud is a national hero in Afghanistan , but he 's also become something else : the prototype for the tough but enlightened leader Afghanistan desperately needs today , some Afghans say . Watch how images of Massoud are everywhere in Afghanistan ''

Massoud was assassinated two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks by agents linked to al Qaeda . Though he died eight years ago , his legacy looms over any would-be leader in Afghanistan , Afghans and scholars say . See current key players in Afghanistan ''

` He would have found bin Laden '

Afghanistan 's government has been accused of being corrupt and weak . Massoud had a reputation for integrity and strength , says Junger , who traveled to Afghanistan in 2000 to profile Massoud for his book , `` Fire . ''

`` He would have been very hard for the warlords to intimidate , '' Junger says .

Massoud had a reputation as a fierce nationalist who would not allow any outside group -- the Russians , Pakistan , the Taliban , even the United States -- to control Afghanistan , says Zieba Shorish-Shamley , an Afghan native and founder of the Women 's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan .

`` All he wanted was to have Afghanistan for Afghanistan , '' Shorish-Shamley says . `` If Massoud would have been in power , he would not sell out . ''

Massoud made his name as a brilliant guerrilla leader . He was born in Afghanistan 's Panjshir Valley , the son of an Afghan army officer . He attended college as an engineering student where he became involved in student politics .

Massoud became Afghanistan 's most famous resistance leader after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 . Widely read , he studied the works of famous guerrilla leaders . His army fought back nine major offensives by the Soviet army in the Panjshir Valley .

After the Soviet army retreated , Massoud then waged war against the Taliban , objecting to their rigid interpretation of Islam and treatment of women .

While battling the Taliban , Massoud became a bitter foe of the group 's chief ally , al Qaeda 's Osama bin Laden .

Shorish-Shamley , the women 's rights activist , says Massoud was assassinated just before the 9/11 attacks because bin Laden feared Massoud . Massoud 's military prowess combined with his knowledge of the Afghan-Pakistan border would have made him an even more formidable threat against the Taliban with U.S. military muscle backing him .

`` If they -LSB- al Qaeda leaders -RSB- were hiding under a rock , he would have found them , '' Shorish-Shamley says . `` He was that type of person . He would have found bin Laden . ''

` He was a charming killer '

Yet there are others who say Massoud was n't that different from the warlords who try to control Afghanistan today .

After the Soviet army left Afghanistan , various Afghan resistance leaders cobbled together a coalition government to run the country . Massoud was appointed defense minister . But a civil war soon erupted as various factions fought for control of the country . Men under Massoud 's command were accused of massacring civilians .

Paul Fitzgerald , co-author of `` Afghanistan 's Untold Story , '' says Massoud was a `` charming killer . ''

`` He was n't as bad as the worst , '' Fitzgerald says . `` But from the Afghan point of view , they 're all war criminals . They really did n't do any good for the Afghan people . ''

The Taliban eventually stepped into the leadership vacuum created by feuding Afghan factions . When they gained control of Afghanistan , they pushed Massoud 's army into the Panjshir Valley . There Massoud fought a rear-guard action against the Taliban while trying to warn the West about the global threat posed by bin Laden and the Taliban .

Marcela Grad , author of the book `` Massoud , '' says he was the only Afghan resistance leader who never left the country to live abroad . He fought constantly for Afghanistan 's independence , but constant war did n't appear to destroy his humanity .

`` He had tranquility about him , '' says Grad , who journeyed to Afghanistan to talk to Massoud 's friends for her book . `` He brought his poetry books to battle . ''

Grad says Massoud believed that his fight against the Taliban was n't isolated but part of a larger battle against a Taliban-like Islam that threatened to spread across Central Asia .

`` If Massoud and the Afghans were not being a front against intolerance in that part of the world , we would have had al Qaeda everywhere -- it would have been much worse , '' Grad says .

Junger , who had interviewed Massoud the year before , says he was crushed by Massoud 's death .

`` A lot of people who knew him felt that he was the best hope for that part of the world , '' says Junger .

There may be another Massoud in Afghanistan 's future .

A year after Massoud 's death , he was named a `` National Hero of Afghanistan . '' As dignitaries stepped on stage to honor Massoud , a thin adolescent with the same aquiline nose and almond-shaped eyes as Massoud stepped before the crowd .

It was Massoud 's only son , Ahmad , who was then 13 -LRB- he would now be about 20 -RRB- . CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour , who covered the event , reported that Ahmad said that terrorists may have killed his father but not his vision of a united and free Afghanistan .

`` I want to follow in my father 's footsteps , '' Ahmad said . `` I want to secure our country 's independence . I want to be my father 's successor . ''

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Legendary Afghan leader instilled fear in Taliban , Afghans say

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Ahmad Shah Massoud considered prototype for Afghan leader , some say

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Author Sebastian Junger : ` He had tremendous magnetism '